This historical Florentine villa is given a contemporary rethink
Danish design brand Frama and filmmaker Albert Moya have worked together to update the Villa Medicea di Marignolle in Italy

Multidisciplinary Danish design brand Frama has breathed new life into a historical Italian home, collaborating with filmmaker Albert Moya to create a welcoming space in Florence. Located between Galluzzo and Soffiano in the southwestern suburbs, Villa Medicea di Marignolle has a rich history. Both the former home of Galileo Galilei and one of the Medici family’s villas, it is now a base for Spanish-born Moya, who was keen to combine the 15th-century building with contemporary design codes.
Albert Moya at the villa
‘I teamed up with Frama to create a studio, a space acting as a school where artists can meet students,’ Moya says. ‘A place where everyone can learn something new, absorb knowledge, and exchange ideas. There is a natural interaction between the interior architecture, Frama’s universe, and each selected piece. It is a harmonious, unified and balanced approach.’
It is a laid-back aesthetic encapsulated in the interior of the villa, an icon of Renaissance architecture, with the creation of two workspaces that serve equally for relaxing and socialising, in these surroundings that marry architecture, design and art.
For Moya, the tranquillity of the Florentine villa is key to its success, and his partnership with Frama defines the parameters of the untraditional living studio. It is a natural project for the Danish studio, which composes design solutions from its base and showroom space in the historic St Paul’s Apotek in Nyboder, Copenhagen. In the past, the brand has worked on both lifestyle objects, fragrances and homewares and interior architecture projects, as well as offering a multisensory approach to design solutions for furniture and lighting, creating warm and welcoming spaces.
‘With an emphasis on natural materials, simple geometries, and uncompromising quality, our work celebrates craftsmanship,’ the brand states. ‘It connects the imaginative with the practical, resulting in a uniquely honest aesthetic.’
INFORMATION
framacph.com
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Hannah Silver is the Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*. Since joining in 2019, she has overseen offbeat design trends and in-depth profiles, and written extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury. She enjoys meeting artists and designers, viewing exhibitions and conducting interviews on her frequent travels.
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